House committee kills voter ID proposal

Foes say election fraud not an issue

Minnesota voters apparently will be able to go through at least one more election where they can vote without showing photo identification.

A Minnesota House committee Thursday rejected a bill that would have required voters to produce photo IDs before voting. The government operations committee vote was 11-8, with most Democrats voting no and Republicans voting yes.

"This bill is about the integrity and legitimacy of the process; it's about confidence in the outcome of our elections," Emmer said.

Opponents argued the legislation is unnecessary. Secretary of State Mark Ritchie, a Democrat, told the committee he reviewed 150 years of state election history and could not find "any evidence of voter impersonation at the polls."

David Schultz, a Hamline University election-law expert, cited six cases of illegal aliens allegedly seeking to vote in Minnesota in 2006, but he noted that represents just 0.000003 percent of the 2.2 million ballots cast. He also found no evidence of extensive fraudulent voting in other states.

"Voter fraud is statistically insignificant and has not affected the outcome of elections," Schultz told the committee.

Keesha Gaskins, executive director of the League of Women Voters of Minnesota, said a photo ID requirement would needlessly complicate the election process.

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"It provides a political solution to a problem Minnesota does not have," she said.

But other witnesses cited evidence that some voters were voting improperly.

Minnesota law permits a registered voter to vouch for a person who lacks a valid ID. Morris Hanson, a Minneapolis election judge, said he has seen voters vouch for several people they don't know.

Rep. Steve Gottwalt, R-St. Cloud, noted that the 2008 election recount revealed 25 precincts in which more votes were cast than voters registered.

Even if voter fraud is uncommon, Emmer said lawmakers shouldn't wait for fraud to occur before they act to prevent it. Democrats didn't buy that argument.

Republicans have proposed the photo ID requirement for at least nine years, and Democrats have repeatedly shot it down.

This year's bill isn't dead, but it would take a political miracle to revive it.